DELAWARE – A state correctional officer was arrested Monday for allegedly having sex with a female inmate in the staff bathroom of the prison facility, police said.

Larry R. Clinkscale, 40, of Bear, was a sergeant who has been a correctional officer for nearly 12 years, said Julie Petroff, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction.

The incident is alleged to have occurred between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Monday in a supply closet within Delores Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in New Castle, said state police spokesman Sgt. Paul Shavack.

The 23-year-old victim contacted a staff member sometime after the alleged incident occurred and the staff member reported the allegation to the department’s internal affairs investigators.

The victim was taken to Christiana Hospital, where a sexual assault examination was conducted, police said in court records.

An investigation revealed that the victim was propositioned by the officer, who was working an overtime assignment, and told to go into a staff restroom.

According to court records, Clinkscale pulled the woman into a nearby closet where they engaged in oral and vaginal sex.

He surrendered to detectives Tuesday and was charged with sexual relations in a detention facility, which prohibits any “employee, visitor, contractor and their employees, or a volunteer at a detention facility in the state from engaging in sexual intercourse or sexual penetration on the premises of a detention facility.”

He was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

Clinkscale was suspended with pay pending a status review today, at which point his status likely will be changed to suspended without pay, Petroff said.

DELAWARE – Delaware State Police arrested Danielle Finlay, a teacher at the Delaware Autistic Program, for hitting one of her students.

The incident happened on March 6th at the school, located on the 100 block of Brennan Drive in Newark. A witness reported to police that they had witnessed the teacher strike a 17 year old male student two times. The teacher first hit the student in the head while in the classroom and then again in the hallway with a water bottle after the student was making loud noises. The student was not injured in the incident.

Finlay turned herself into police earlier today and was arraigned and released on her own recognizance. She was charged with 2 court of offensive touching.

CLAYMONT, DELAWARE – Delaware Department of Transportation crews escorted by state police tore down basketball hoops this morning in two neighborhoods in Claymont amid protests from residents who say the nets aren’t harming anyone.

Last fall, DelDOT sent letters to at least eight residents in the Radnor Green and Ashbourne Hills subdivisions saying their street-side basketball hoops violated the state’s Clear Zone law, which prohibits hoops, trees, shrubs and other objects from being within seven feet of the pavement’s edge in subdivisions.

DelDOT told residents that if they didn’t take down the hoops that the agency would and residents would be charged for the removal and disposal costs, said Radnor Green resident John McCafferty.

DelDOT crews and state police officers abruptly stopped the operation this morning after a News Journal photographer arrived at McCafferty’s house on Hilldale Court, where the man’s wife had climbed up on the hoop to protest the removals.

HARRINGTON, DELAWARE – An investigation by the Delaware Child Predator Task Force has resulted in the arrest of a veteran Harrington police officer on multiple child pornography and related charges.

Jonathan Kendall, 37, of Lincoln, is charged with 27 counts of dealing in child pornography, one count of hindering prosecution and official misconduct.

According to Delaware Department of Justice spokesman Jason Miller, officers from the Child Predator Task Force and Delaware State Police Troop 4 initially executed a search warrant on Jan. 19 at Kendall’s home on North Union Church Road. Officers seized a computer and other evidence. A forensic analysis uncovered evidence of dealing in child pornography, Miller said.

Kendall was taken into custody Thursday, March 10 at DSP Troop 3. At that time of his arrest, two additional search warrants- which were obtained based on the evidence seized during the execution of the Jan. 19 search- were executed at Kendall’s home and vehicle.

Additional evidence was recovered from Kendall’s vehicle and home, according to Miller.

After a review of all the evidence, Kendall was charged with the aforementioned offenses. He is being held in the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in lieu of $272,000 secured bond. Kendall was a Harrington police officer at the time of the investigation, Miller said. According to Harrington Police Chief Norman R. Barlow, Kendall was a 17-year-old veteran with the agency, with the rank of sergeant.

In a statement issued shortly after the announcement of Kendall’s arrest, Barlow said, “It is certainly a sad day when one of our own has been arrested, and it is an disappointment. I want to assure the citizens of Harrington that I will diligently work hard to move our department past this incident and provide the police service they expect.”

As a result of the charges filed against him, Kendall has been suspended from the Harrington Police Department, Barlow said.

Thursday’s arrest came the same day that a federal grand jury indicted 29-year-old Shane Kiser of Millsboro on charges of attempted enticement of a minor and receipt and possession of child pornography. Kiser was arrested Oct. 16 at a Dover-area hotel as the result of a Child Predator Task Force investigation. According to authorities, Kiser had agreed during an Internet chat to drive to the hotel to have sex with the investigator’s fictional child.

Kiser was a registered nurse who was employed at Beebe Hospital and Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md.

DOVER, DELAWARE – The head of the agency charged with enforcing Delaware’s alcohol laws has resigned after being arrested for drunken driving.

Siobahn Sullivan submitted her resignation letter to Secretary of Safety and Homeland Security Lewis Schiliro on Friday, saying she was resigning effective immediately as director of the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement.

Sullivan was stopped for speeding early Thursday on Route 1 near Lewes and subsequently charged with drunken driving. The 45-year-old Sullivan was released pending arraignment, which is scheduled for Oct. 22., and had been placed on administrative leave with pay.

Sullivan is a retired state police sergeant and was the commander of the executive protection unit assigned to former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.

DOVER, DELAWARE – The Delaware Department of Correction says a correctional officer charged with sending harassing e-mails to the governor has been placed on leave with pay.

Department spokesman John Painter says 50-year-old Steven Lenhart of Dover was placed on leave Friday pending the outcome of the investigation of the charges.

Painter says Lenhart has been with the department since 1981.

The governor’s office told police last month about “alarming e-mails” sent to the cost-saving suggestion public mailbox. Police say investigators linked Lenhart to the messages using the IP address from the e-mails. Detectives searched Lenhart’s home Thursday and seized his computer.

Lenhart was charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of harassment and released on $10,000 secured bail.